The Organic Laws of Oregon were two sets of laws passed in the 1840s that established a structure for government in the Oregon Country in the northwest corner of North America. These laws were created by a legislative committee formed after the Champoeg Meetings. At the last Champoeg Meeting in May 1843, the majority of voters from among the settlers of the Oregon Country voted to create what became the Provisional Government of Oregon. Laws were drafted by the committee and accepted by a popular vote in July. These laws were reformed by a second version in 1845.
The Organic Laws were based on the laws of Iowa Territory and compartmentalized the government into three branches consisting of an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judiciary. Once the Oregon Territory was formed in 1848, the territorial government took control of the laws and invalidated only one provision of the Organic Laws. On February 14, 1859, Oregon became a state and the Oregon Constitution became the legal framework for the state.
Read more about Organic Laws Of Oregon: Background, First Organic Laws, Second Organic Laws, Aftermath
Famous quotes containing the words organic, laws and/or oregon:
“And what if all of animated nature
Be but organic Harps diversely framed,
That tremble into thought, as o’er them sweeps
Plastic and vast, one intellectual breeze,
At once the Soul of each, and God of all?”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“Our friendships hurry to short and poor conclusions, because we have made them a texture of wine and dreams, instead of the tough fibre of the human heart. The laws of friendship are austere and eternal, of one web with the laws of nature and of morals.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“In another year I’ll have enough money saved. Then I’m gonna go back to my hometown in Oregon and I’m gonna build a house for my mother and myself. And join the country club and take up golf. And I’ll meet the proper man with the proper position. And I’ll make a proper wife who can run a proper home and raise proper children. And I’ll be happy, because when you’re proper, you’re safe.”
—Daniel Taradash (b. 1913)